{A&E} Ultimate Guide: Finding Clean Books

I’ll tell you a secret. I almost failed 8th grade because I read too many books. True story. That’s how much I love reading.

Fortunately and unfortunately, the world of literature is larger and more diverse than that of its cinematic counterpart. This means everyone can find something to appease their varying appetites for the written word. It also means sites to review books vary in the number and genre of books evaluated.

The other problem is the manner of evaluation—let’s face it, The Book of Mormon could easily be rated R in movie format. All the war chapters that comprise the majority of Alma, the grisly end of Shiz at the conclusion of Ether, the graphic despotism of Moroni 9? And let’s not get into all the icky sins of Sodom and Gomorrah and all the other such gems we find in the Bible. The lines aren’t quite as easily drawn when assessing the worthiness of literature, and everyone has their own standards for evaluation.

With those caveats, here are some sites that can help you out on your quest for the best of books. Some of them are personal blogs of people who do book reviews, and many of them include traditional book reviews that just happen to also touch on content or only feature books that are already “clean” (according to their personal definition), so feel free to check them out to see which one (or ones) fits your needs best.

Your turn: How do you decide which books to read and which to ditch? Do you have your own book review site or one you use all the time that we haven't featured here?

—Kaela Worthen is the associate editor at LDS Living. A self-titled “ultimate grammar nerd,” she also battles serious addictions to news and food websites and a compulsion to dance to the radio while driving.